A fun day for her 4 1/2 birthday! She and Daddy went to get her haircut and he took her shopping. She chose purple hair chalk and purple nail polish. Then we had lunch at Chuy's. You'll notice she has on way too much lip gloss, thanks to an over-eager worker at the shops. :o)​

After lunch, we went home to put on our swimsuits for a fun swimming birthday party for one of her preschool buddies. She had written this tag for his gift all by herself (other than the To:/From: that I did). So cute!

November 8, 2015

A fantastic day for a Colts game! Every single regular-season Colts game Lizzy has ever attended has ended in a Colts victory. She put that record on the line today with the woeful Colts up against the undefeated Broncos, but Super-fan Lizzy worked her magic, and we had a Colts victory!

Must've been the purple hair.

The photo below cracks me up. After the first Colts touchdown, she caught some of the celebration tape that fell from the rafters. I wanted to get a photo of her wearing her prize. She was watching the game and didn't want to be bothered. Hence, the face you see here.

November 9, 2015

Since last night was a little later than our normal Colts Sundays, I had taken today off for a Lizzy/Mama fun day!

We started with breakfast at Perkins.

Then went to Finish Line for some new shoes. They measured her foot, and she's graduated to big kid shoes! She was pretty excited about this, and picked some stylish new kicks.

Next, the Peanuts Movie. The animation was gorgeous. The storyline had us both bored by about 30 minutes in, but we stuck it out to the end.

Then we came home for lots and lots of fun. We played Don't Spill the Beans, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Twister (with Winston, as you can see), reenacted Ghostbusters (with our Halloween costumes), and then pretended to meet Bill Murray. What a busy day!

November 10, 2015

Happy Veterans Day tomorrow!

November 13, 2015

Today was Freaky Friday at preschool. They got to wear their pajamas, but Lizzy took it one step forward and wore parts of three different pajama sets, and her silly Colts hat. She was the craziest dressed there!

The preschool hosted a Freaky Friday dinner for the families, which included breakfast for dinner. We sat by a centerpiece that Lizzy had made, and then did silly pictures in the photo booth. It was a fun time!

She wrote this sign on her own.

November 14, 2015

We ran some errands before lunch time, then we came home and the whole family took a THREE HOUR NAP! Once we woke up, we (plus Winston) went to the Christmas Festival at Hamilton Town Center. We had a great time, and got the see the fireworks as we were leaving from the most perfect vantage point along the road. Winston was a minor celebrity at the event, with dozens (no exaggeration) of people stopping to meet him, and some even wanting their picture taken with him.

November 15, 2015

I had to go into work a bit this morning to help out on a project, so Daddy took Lizzy to the Children's Museum.

Gay and Ed thoughtfully purchased Lizzy a special paver brick for a project that will be built in their hometown.

November 16, 2015

A few weeks ago, Lizzy had won $21 on a scratch off ticket. She'd been waiting to spend her money on something really special. I had seen a big Princess Celestia pony at Walgreen's, which is the one pony she doesn't yet have in her collection. It was $9.99. They also had a large Princess Cadance, which was really nice too. I told her she had enough money to buy both. She decided, on her own, to buy only one of the toys, so she'd have some money left over for something else in the future. What a mature little girl!

I asked Lizzy what it is about her that makes her unique and special.

"I'm smart, loyal, and kind."

November 26, 2015

Happy Thanksgiving! Our big family meal this year was chili rather than turkey, at Lizzy's request. It went over amazingly! After the family meal, Lizzy performed Eye of the Tiger and Let It Go on Singstar, in her fancy dress. She loves to put on a show.

November 29, 2015

A great day for another Colts victory!

December 4, 2015

We made rolo pretzel pecan treats together, and we were originally going to watch A Very Murray Christmas and Scrooged, but she chose to watch Ghostbusters again instead. :o)

December 5, 2015

We attended a 50th birthday party for a friend, in which everyone was encouraged to wear something black and/or nerdy. Lizzy chose her Darth Vader costume from Halloween 2 years ago. She was tearing up the dance floor! The performer played the Imperial March on his guitar after a particularly enthusiastic dance routine, and encouraged everyone in attendance to "Give it up for the Dark Lord of the Sith!" She was absolutely tickled.

December 6, 2015

We finally got our tree up and decorated. When we were finished, she wanted to say a prayer for the tree. "Dear God, please take care of our tree and make sure we all have a Merry Christmas."

December 10, 2015

Since the weather has been so fantastic, and she's such a good girl, she got to open a present from Gay and Ed. A new big girl bike and helmet! She took off riding so fast...

December 11, 2015

Night at the Pacers game! We were lucky enough to get to enjoy my work's suite again, so we enjoyed some snacks and got all settled in. The second photo below was displayed on the big screen at halftime, but she and I were in the middle of walking around so we didn't get to see it. But everyone else did!

Daddy bought her a new Boomer shirt (since the one Boomer gave her earlier this year is still waaaaay too big, and then she found out a little boy in the suite with us also plays the Sonic Dash game, so she took her phone over and sat with him and played together during the last quarter.

December 12, 2015

We went to see The Polar Express at Flix Brewhouse with our friends Geoff and Alanna. That place is fantastic! Lizzy had pancakes and sausage while watching the movie. She also had worn her Darth Vader mask and My Little Pony dress, which is totally normal.

After the movie and some shopping, we went home and had a massive (4 hour) nap together. When we awoke, Daddy left to go out with some friends, so she and I had Mexican dinner, got groceries, and then went to see the Reynolds lights. They changed it up this year!

December 13, 2015

We got up early to visit Santa at Trader's Point Creamery. While we were waiting in line, Dasher arrived. She was pretty thrilled about that! Afterwards, she told Santa she would like some "cool surprises", since she has pretty much everything else already. I love the photo of Santa gently brushing her hair out of her eyes.

After visiting Santa, she got her face painted like Rudolph, decorated a cookie, then we had some hot chocolate before going outside to see Dasher again.

On our drive home, Lizzy asked to play with my phone because we'd left hers at home. Imagine my surprise to find about 70 silly selfies she'd taken that I had no idea about!

In the evening, we took Winston along to see Santa. Lizzy got to watch the ice skaters nearby while we waited in line. He was such a good boy! You'll notice she still has her face painted, mostly, from earlier in the day.

December 16, 2015

Lately at night, Lizzy's hair has been bothering her in her sleep. (There is SO MUCH of it, so that's not surprising.) However, she doesn't like it in a ponytail while she sleeps, so there was a bit of a conundrum. We fixed this by wrapping it up in a bun each night. This, however, is what happens each morning when we take the bun down.

This evening we all enjoyed her preschool's Christmas program. She was so happy Daddy got to see it this year, along with Gay and Ed. Since she's the only child in two classrooms, she got double the performance time :o) She certainly was dazzling in her purple Christmas dress.

December 17, 2015

Today was a big day for us! The new Star Wars movie finally opened. We started the evening at one of my co-workers houses, where Darth Vader snuggled in with some dog buddies.​

After the pre-party, we headed to the theater.

There were a few funny moments of watching it with her, the best being when Han Solo came on the screen and she asked me "Is that Han Solo? Why is he old?"

She managed to stay awake until the very end of the movie when she fell asleep in our arms. We will just have to go see it again!

December 18, 2015

Today was the last day of preschool before winter break. I was able to go help her build her gingerbread house! It turned out great.

December 20, 2015

Pre-game fun. We ran into Santa, and Lizzy did the obstacle course four times.

Unfortunately, Lizzy's good luck ran out and this was her first regular-season home game loss.

We headed home and she did some silly faces in her trampoline, and then was acting silly with my glasses try-on pack I'd received in the mail.

December 22, 2015

Yuletide Celebration day! We started our day by meeting Anju and Naveen for lunch, and then headed down to the theater. Out front, as with last year, there were reindeer to meet, and then lots of characters inside!

During part of the show, the performers sing Let It Go. Lately, she's been loving this parody on YouTube. So, as they were singing Let It Go, she was busy singing Let It Flow note-perfect in my ear. Tommy and I were cracking up!

After the fantastic show (she is so proper and uses her best manners. It's so nice to have such a well-behaved little girl at things like this!), we went to The Soldiers and Sailors Monument, then walked over to the Arts Garden before heading home.

December 23, 2015

After a busy few days, Lizzy decided she didn't want to go to the Children's Museum as we'd originally, planned, and instead wanted to stay home all day and not wear clothes. She successfully managed to stay sans-clothes for over 24 hours, and she loved it. Ha!

December 24, 2015

We began our Christmas Holiday by going to see Star Wars (again) at Flix Brewhouse (again.) We had a magnificent time!

After the movie, we came home and played for awhile, until Gay and Ed arrived. They brought her bike over so she could ride in the beautiful weather, and then she opened some presents. After, we headed to Texas Roadhouse for our Christmas Eve dinner. It was super fun!

We came home and she opened a few presents, and we made chocolate cookies for Santa, and set out some carrots for the reindeer.

She had a really tough time getting to sleep, due to the excitement of our visitor in red's visit later that night. I finally got her to sleep, only to hear her crying in bed maybe 45 minutes later. I went upstairs to see her sitting up in bed, pointing to her lava lamp nightlight, saying "I want that to hug me!" Okay...

December 25, 2015

Christmas Morning was a great success. She opened her stockings first, finding a letter from Santa that started a great scavenger hunt adventure all through the house! She finally found her gift from Santa, a wonderful electric circuit set that will lead to hours of fun and learning through the coming years.

We opened the rest of our gifts to each other, which included her very own iPad (she was so excited!)

Later in the morning, Gay and Ed came over and brought her more presents, including an Easy Bake Oven and a basketball goal. Daddy made a wonderful Christmas lunch (with turkey, at Lizzy's request), and then we spent the rest of the day playing new Playstation games, coloring, and playing on her iPad.

​At bedtime, she asked "Can we all get in bed and play on our iPads?" Sure we can!

December 26, 2015

Original plans to go ice skating today were scuppered by a request to stay home, watch Goosebumps, and play with her new toys. Okay!

In the later afternoon, we went to my Aunt's house for our extended family Christmas celebration. We had a lovely time! We got this beautiful photo of my Grandmother with all three of her great-grandchildren.

Lizzy enjoyed participating in the family White Elephant exchange this year. She brought a gift of her own choosing, and ended up with a clock with a secret hiding compartment which she LOVED! She also received several perfect gifts from family, including a puzzle, a Star Wars projector drawing set, and a Snackeez cup which she immediately came home, had Daddy wash, filled with an Arnold Palmer and Goldfish, and had us start Star Wars.

January 1, 2016

Happy New Year! This year is going to be a huge one for our family. Lizzy will turn 5 and we will celebrate with a trip to Jamaica. She will also start Kindergarten this fall, which seems impossible. We're excited for the year ahead.

We celebrated the New Year by hosting a number of friends with kiddos (9 kids total!) and Lizzy relished her role as party hostess, ensuring all the children were being good. She loved having all the friends over to play with, and was a trooper herself, staying up until 2:00 am. We slept until 11:00 in the morning on New Year's Day, so it was a great celebration all around!

January 9, 2016

We had a lovely stay-at-home afternoon, where Daddy and Lizzy spent some time playing with her circuit toy from Santa.

Lizzy's preschool teacher provided a lot of fun photos from the last semester.

January 13, 2016

Talking in her sleep, in a panicked state:

"Mommy! Mommy!

​I'm gonna show you it. I'm gonna show you it. I'm gonna show you it.

It's...

It's...

It's...

It's snow."

January 16, 2016

We attended a birthday party today which included rock climbing and swimming, among other thing. Her first time rock climbing was a lot of fun!

January 18, 2016

Gay and Ed took her to The Fun Place today, and as always, she had a lot of fun!

January 19, 2016

Lizzy is Star Student this week at school!

January 28, 2016

A nice day in the park with Gay and Ed.

January 29, 2016

Gay won an online contest, and gave the prize to Lizzy for her collection. They sent a picture to the company that ran the contest, and the company wrote this beautiful little write up on Facebook. How nice!

January 31, 2016

We were discussing whether or not we should keep our current Colts seats, or try to upgrade the location for next year. We asked Lizzy what she thought, and she said we should try to be closer.

I responded "But I like our seats. They're so easy to get to."

She told me, very matter of factly, "The easy solution is not always the best solution."

I got schooled by a 4 year old.

Before bed, she informed me that she wanted to use all the money in her R2-D2 piggy bank to take me on a surprise trip to Disney World for my birthday. Sweet, considerate girl.

February 2, 2016

I found this in Lizzy's backpack from school last week. It's so sweet how children compliment one another.

These two sure are buddies.

February 5, 2016

Lizzy has made up her own knock knock joke, 100% on her own:

Knock knock!Who's there?Pencil.Pencil who?​Pennsylvania, do you want to meet the groundhog?

Today was messy hair day at preschool. We prepared the night before by putting her hair into wet buns so it would be adequately crazy in the morning. Overnight, one of the buns fell out, but we just made that section of her hair into a purple braid instead.

February 12, 2016

​Love is...

February 13, 2016

February 14, 2016

February 18, 2016

We left in the morning for a fun little getaway to Great Wolf Lodge. We drove to Ohio from Gay and Ed's, stopping at Smokey Bones for lunch en route.

After lunch, we hopped back on the road for the short drive to the Lodge. We arrived right at 12:30. and were glad to discover our room was ready! As we were checking in, she got a balloon animal dog on a leash that she named Doodle, who accompanied us for the rest of the day (until he popped the following morning.) We got our bags up to our room, got settled, and someone just couldn't wait to go swimming.

After a few hours of swimming (mostly the hot tub, wave pool (her favorite!), lazy river, and lily pad pool obstacle course) we headed back to the room to get dried off and changed for some more fun. We started in the arcade, where I hit the jackpot on a game I was playing while she was playing a different game, so she picked lots of fun prizes, which included a bottle of invisible ink.

After arcade time, we all went to have dinner at the restaurant, during which she began to play with the invisible ink. She LOVED it, squirting each of us and writing Ed's name on a napkin. She got such a kick out of it, and used about half her bottle of invisible ink during dinner. Uh oh!

​​Gay and Ed finished eating early and took Lizzy to go start the MagiQuest game, which involves a magic wand and visiting dozens of interesting interactive sites around the lodge. Her name was Magi Sparkledust.

After Tommy and I finished our dinner, we found them and took over the MagiQuest game with her so Gay and Ed could rest. We also managed to watch the clock tower show in between questing.

After a bit more questing, we finally managed to get her back to our room so we could all get some rest!

February 19. 2016

After a good night of sleep (swimming and questing will do that to you!), we awoke and got dressed for breakfast. After eating, we went bowling and to play a TON in the arcade, where she and Daddy won a huge jackpot by teaming up on a fishing game. She got two more bottles of invisible ink (yay!) in addition to a stuffed wolf.

I love this photo, as it's reminiscent of one we took last time we stayed here, when she was 18 months old.

After finishing up in the arcade, we headed back to the room to get packed up and checked out. As we were checking out, she went over to see if the balloon animal artist was set up. They weren't. However, a face painter was! She chose to be a tiger, and roared at us the entire drive back home. :o)

February 21, 2016

We went to Paradise Bakery for lunch before going to a fun (and busy!) birthday party.

February 23, 2016

Lizzy's mid-year assessment was fantastic, and included a nice note from her teacher.

Lizzy gave a very nice compliment to the preschool Director, who felt so touched by her comment she shared it on facebook. Sweet girl.

Lizzy loves to "make potions", with anything she can find. Marshmallows, rice, dish soap - she loves to make elaborate concoctions. She had brought in a large stick for use in one of her potions.

However, rather than putting it in a potion, she decided to play restaurant with it. She broken the stick up into little pieces, served it in a bowl, and called it "Sticken noodle soup."

February 26, 2016

We went to Costco, and she picked out this pretty yellow dress. She was so serious about how pretty she was in it, and for about 10 minutes made me take photos of her in very serious poses.

​March 1, 2016

Lizzy was in the computer lab at preschool, and called the Director over. "Ms. Lori, my screen has gone all black!" Ms. Lori was flummoxed, and couldn't seem to diagnose the problem. Lizzy started laughing. She was in a coloring game and had colored the entire screen black.

Little trickster!

March 5, 2016

We went to one of Lizzy's friends birthday parties today. I was talking to one of the other preschool moms there, who told me that a few weeks prior, her dad (a former art teacher) had gone to the preschool to do an art instruction during artist week. The children were being taught to paint in the style of Money's Water Lilies. Her dad had commented "There was a little girl named Lizzy, who was the most attentive of all the kids. She painted with the most detail and precision."

At the conclusion of the festivities, all the kiddos played in their basement.

In the afternoon, she and I went to see Zootopia in 3D IMAX. It was a really good movie, and so we spent the rest of the evening pretending to be those characters (of course!)

March 7, 2016

Lizzy got a new dress, which she immediately had to put on. She was so beautiful in it! We went to dinner at Chuy's and 3 people commented on how gorgeous she is, one even saying she looked like Mulan. She is certainly beautiful, but if people only knew how smart, funny, and kind-hearted she is, they'd truly understand what an amazingly beautiful little person she is.

​March 8, 2016

Lizzy's teacher sent me this photo. Guess Lizzy is a professional photobomber!

We were laying in bed, about to fall asleep. Lizzy told me "Mommy, it's so important to see the world while you're young and able to do so. You don't want to get old and die and be sad you never got to see things."

March 18, 2016

Today is dress like a book character day at preschool. Lizzy is Purplicious!

March 19, 2016

We were the only family that showed up for our neighborhood Easter Egg hunt time, so she got all the eggs!

Daddy thought PF Chang's sounded good for dinner, so we went and had a wonderful time!

After dinner, we went to the Fashion Mall to walk around for awhile. We got some Starbucks and meandered. We found a wonderful store that featured art by Dr. Seuss, so we sat and read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish for awhile. Such a fun night!

March 23, 2016

For several months, Lizzy has been on a mission to find a four leaf clover. She found one at recess! She was beyond thrilled.

March 26, 2016

Today was the annual neighborhood Easter Party. Last weekend's (the one where she got all the eggs) was sponsored by a local church. This one was the big one. There was an egg hunt, the annual visit from the Easter Bunny, a relay race, and lots of fun! We took Winston too, and he got lots of attention.

​After some playground time, Daddy and Lizzy went to see Zootopia again and then went to a nearby playground. They came home, then we decorated Easter eggs. She had a ton of fun, and did a really great job with her very unique Baymax and Mickey Mouse eggs.

Next, we watched Home Alone (one of Lizzy's favorites!), then went to have some deep dish pizza for dinner. We went to Nordstrom Rack and Lizzy chose some pretty new outfits for our upcoming Jamaica trip for her birthday.

March 27, 2016

Happy Easter! We awoke and came downstairs to an egg hunt and a fantastic Easter basket full of things Lizzy loves.

We went and had breakfast with Gay and Ed, and then came home to watch some movies and have a lovely relaxing Sunday together. We played outside, spending a lot of time with sidewalk chalk on the driveway. She drew picture below, saying "This is me when I turn 5 years, on the beach."

After dinner, Lizzy ate some of her giant chocolate Easter egg, which was so big she could fit her face in it.

March 31, 2016

Just a sweet little story. Before bed, Lizzy wanted me to tell her some funny jokes. She was clearly tired, so all the lights weren't on upstairs at that moment. I started by saying "Knock knock."

For a split second, she couldn't remember the correct reply of "Who's there?" So instead, she said "Knock, knock, knock, who?"

Then she realized her error and laughed and laughed and laughed. We ended up repeating that jokey mess-up all the following weekend!

April 1, 2016

We took the day off to have a long weekend in Chicago. We began our trip by taking Daddy to get our rental car (a nice Ford Explorer Limited - so comfortable for the drive!) and then she and I took Winston to my friend's house, who had graciously offered to watch him while we were out of town.

After dropping Winston off, she and I grabbed Starbucks and came home to pack and clean the house while Daddy got his hair cut. Once he returned home, we hit the road. We stopped in Lafayette on the way up for lunch at Chipotle.

Our drive up was uneventful, and we arrived at our hotel a little before our 3:00 check-in time. We left the car with the valet, grabbed our bags, and got checked-in. We arrived at our room, and Lizzy proclaimed "I love this house!"

We got settled and played some Plants v Zombies pretend, pretending that we could see the zombies down below on the streets, and had to mount our defense plan.

We finally managed to get her out of the hotel room, and then we walked down to Michigan Avenue for some shopping, which included new shoes for Lizzy and Daddy at Finish Line.

We then went to the Hancock Tower Observation deck, and spent a lot of time up there taking pictures, having some juice, and watching weather roll in from West to East. It was fantastic!

We walked over to Gino's East for dinner, since not only is it our favorite, but it was also across the street from our hotel (we could look down on it from our bedroom window!) We didn't have to wait too long. but the wait we did have was easy to bear since she got to take a Sharpie to the walls.

After dinner, we headed back to the room for playtime (which included Snapchat filters) and, eventually, bedtime.

April 2, 2016

We had a wonderful breakfast of breakfast of eggs, bacon, potatoes, croissants, orange juice, apple juice, oranges, hot chocolate, and coffee. With very full tummies, we went back upstairs to get our belongings and headed down to get cab to take us to the Art Institute (it was cold, so we weren't going to walk.)

We arrived plenty early, so we did some lion photos.

We were the first non-members through the entry turnstiles (yay!) so we made a beeline for the Van Gogh bedrooms exhibit, since that's what we had gone to see. She was so good and patient as we waited in line, and so good as we took our time through the exhibit. So, after we'd finished up that portion, she was rewarded with a cupcake.

Next, we went to the Impressionist Gallery. This was most enjoyable for all of us. She loved getting to draw a Cezanne of her choice with oil pastels, so she chose to replicate a still life of fruit and a pitcher. We showed her how he used a light source to place highlights on the fruit as he painted it, so she drew the sun in the corner of her paper to then highlight her fruit accordingly.

You'll recall a few weeks ago, she painted the best version of Monet's Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge in her class. So, she was pretty excited to find an authentic version!

Afterwards, we headed down to the family hands-on-art experience, where we had a chance to write a letter to Vincent Van Gogh and decorate and "Mail" the envelope to him, participate in a collage with other children to make the bedroom, and do some painting.

After we'd been there for a few hours, we found it lunch time so we grabbed a taxi back to the hotel (we weren't walking in a very-near-blizzard!), and had some leftover pizza and popcorn. We had some down time, followed by a fun bath and some drawing on the condensation-laden windows all around our corner suite (lots of window acreage for little artists!)

While we were getting dressed, Daddy and Lizzy were playing tag/chase in the room. He tagged her on the butt and she said "You hit the butt-pot!" (Rather than jackpot - ha!)​We headed over to do some Michigan Avenue shopping, then went to a fantastic Japanese/Korean-style BBQ. She ended up eating a surprising amount of food: an entire bowl of miso soup, a rather large serving of broccoli by herself, ribeye (she ate virtually all of the ribeye that was initially my portion!), miso skirt steak, kalbi, a tin of corn, and then the majority of the family dessert of green tea ice cream and pancakes. Wowzers!

After dinner, we returned to the hotel to wind down and prepare to leave the following day.

April 3, 2016

We awoke and had another really yummy breakfast, then headed back to the room to finish packing up and having the valet bring the car around. We got all loaded up and then drove a short way to a store Daddy wanted to visit. During this time, she and I went to Walgreen's across the street to potty and let her choose her souvenir. I offered her a choice of basically everything on the souvenir shelf. Her choice? A tiny key chain LED flashlight that says "I <3 Chicago."

We had a nice ride home, stopping at Fair Oaks farm for cheese and milkshakes. Once we arrived home, we unloaded, dropped off the rental car, went to get Winston, grabbed dinner and had a nice evening at home.

April 4, 2016

Taking full advantage of my company's unlimited Paid Time Off arrangement, I'm also taking this entire Spring Break off with Lizzy. We started our week off by a successful dentist check-up visit (no cavities!), then trip shopping at Target, Old Navy, and Children's Place. Next, she and I went to lunch together, then grocery shopping, then we went by Finish Line to say hi to everyone and get treats from my office.

We finished our day together by watching Magic Kingdom walk-through videos and then pretending to ride each ride that we saw on the walk through. I've told her she will get to go back when she's 7 or 8. Little does she know that one month from today she will be at Disney World again!

April 6, 2016

Menchie's is doing a Plants vs Zombies promo/theme right now, where you can choose a Plants cup or a Zombies cup. She's plants all the way!

Every since having all that ribeye in Chicago over the weekend, she has been asking for more ribeye. So, we went to the grocery to fulfill her request. She ate a bunch!

April 7, 2016

​We had a wonderful day today, first having breakfast with Lizzy's Great-Grandparents on my Dad's side, and then early dinner with Lizzy's Great-Grandparent on my Mom's side. Once we came home from dinner, she wanted to watch The Force Awakens in the theater room. A pretty perfect day!

April 8, 2016

"Mommy, when I grow up, I really want to be a scientist who makes medicines. That way when you get old I can make medicines to keep you healthy."

April 9, 2016

​We started this morning by watching The Wizard of Oz, which Lizzy loved seeing for the first time! Afterwards, we went shopping at Nordstrom Rack, to Shapiro's for lunch, and took Lizzy to Lush to stock up on bath bombs.

We came home to get changed, and then headed to the YMCA pool for some swimming fun. All in all, a pretty great Saturday!

April 12, 2016

She wanted me to take a photo to show everyone how long her hair is.

April 14, 2016

Kindergarten round up was a success! She really enjoyed seeing the big classrooms. It's going to be a great experience for her.

April 15, 2016

Our super fun weekend kicked off with going to see the Jungle Book. Of course, Bill Murray is the voice of Baloo. During a particularly intense fight between Baloo and the tiger, Lizzy said "Get him Phil Conners!" Ha!

April 16, 2016

It was a brilliantly beautiful day, so we went down to Fountain Square for a fun chalk event with some of my work friends. We took Winston, too.

April 17, 2016

We started our morning by making the gift bags for guests of her rapidly approaching birthday party. In it are some of Lizzy's favorite things: Foam gliders, invisible ink, Star Wars Bubbles, Avengers and Ninja Turtles tattoos, Star Wars stickers, and chewy Jolly Ranchers candies. Winston helped, too.

In the afternoon, we went to a surprise baby shower for a friend. Lizzy made this fun fish kite, which she named Stinky.

After we came home, we did some crafts. She played with glue, markers, and poster board, while I made the poster for her Disney trip reveal scavenger hunt at her birthday party. Underneath each Mickey head is the message "After the party, Lizzy has a big surprise! Tonight she is flying to" and then the big block at the bottom says "DISNEY" I hope she's surprised!

April 22, 2016

It was Young Author's night for preschool, so we finally got to see Lizzy's book that she has been so tight-lipped about. It was her take on Mrs. Wishy-Washy. Her animals she chose to write about in her book were a cow, a chicken, and, of course, a Bulldog.

April 23, 2016

We had a wonderful day today! Lizzy and her Dad went to see the Jungle Book while I stayed behind and cleaned the house. Once they came home, we had lunch, she played awhile outside, and then we had a nap. Once we woke up, we got dressed and ready to go to the observatory.

She was being so funny. Before we left, she said "Make like an astronaut and go find Uranus!" Ha!

We stopped at a new ramen place for dinner. She loved the Japanese soda.

At dinner, she kept making up really funny jokes.

"What did one egg say to the other egg?""You have reached your destin-EGG-tion"

After dinner, we headed to the observatory, where we got to see Jupiter and 3 of its moons. So cool!

April 26, 2016

Field Trip Day!

Before we left for the field trip, her class released butterflies that they had seen grow from eggs, to caterpillars, to chrysalises, to butterflies. It was so fun watching them take flight!

We got on the bus and headed down to Clowes. Imagine our surprise to see that we were seated in the fourth row for Charlotte's Web! The seats were wonderful.

The show itself was fine, but Lizzy said she had preferred the Lion King. On the ride back, we amused ourselves with I Spy and Rock Paper Scissors.

For dinner, we went to Journey. She decided to be brave and try a cucumber roll. She wasn't quite sure about it, but gave it a try anyhow. We had a really fun day together!

April 27, 2016

She awoke with pins and needles in her arm, having slept on it. She couldn't remember that it was called pins and needles, so she said "Mama, I have pencils and pens in my arm!"

April 28, 2016

Birthday celebrations kicked off today! Gay and Ed took Lizzy to Chuck-E-Cheese. When she blew out her candles, she wished "for a great life."

After I picked her up, we went to get her treats for her parties at school tomorrow, and then she chose Tucano's for dinner. This girl loves her salads and beef!

April 30, 2016

The morning of Lizzy's birthday party, Gay and Ed were kind enough to bring lunch over to our house so we could all eat together before it was time to load the car up for the party (and, secretly, all of our luggage!).

We arrived at the stables around 12:30, and we couldn't believe what an amazing place this was for a birthday party. Not only was it spotlessly clean and perfectly set-up for the party, but it was huge!

We did some minor decorating, set the cake and cupcakes out, and Ed and Lizzy went to look at the horses in their pens, and explore the indoor riding area a bit before party guests began arriving. Steve was kind enough let Lizzy access some of the horses before the party had even started.

Right on time, Lizzy's guests started arriving, so Steve jumped into action and started showing the horses to the children.

Next, Lizzy got to lead a miniature house out of her stable for grooming time. The children really loved this!

Then, while the other children groomed a bigger horse, Lizzy got her private riding lesson. She had so much fun!

After Lizzy had finished riding Princess, it was time to let the other children ride and start decorating their picture frames! Each child got to take home their decorated frame, with a photo of them on the horse. What a great keepsake!

After everyone had decorated their frames and finished riding, it was cake time!

Followed by presents.

After the presents, it was scavenger hunt and surprise reveal time! I had hidden 13 small Disney puzzles around the barn, each with a number on it. That number then corresponded to one of the Mickey Heads on the poster board I had prepared previously. Each child came up, one at a time, and removed their Mickey Head to reveal the message "After the party, Lizzy has a BIG surprise! tonight she is flying to ??????"